Three Weeks Later

“Hey, babe,” Billy called from the foyer. “I just let myself in. You got a second?”

I groaned. “I’m in the kitchen!” I yelled back. “Can you come in here?”

Billy chuckled. Seconds later, his strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close. He kissed my neck, sending a thrill of lust racing down my spine.

“Babe, you smell so good,” Billy murmured. “What’re you working on?”

I glanced down at the huge bowl of cake mix in front of me. The large pear-shaped diamond on my left hand glittered, even through the thick layer of batter. As always, when I stared at it, my heart filled with joy.

“I’m trying to make a rainbow cake,” I said. I frowned. “It looked so easy on Pinterest.”

Billy laughed. “Honey, the kids aren’t gonna care,” he said, whistling. “Trust me – all they care about is the sugar.”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t know what I’m competing with, mister,” I said, pointing the batter-coated spatula in the air like a weapon. “The last birthday party we went to was seriously catered by Martha Stewart. It was like something out of a movie.”

Billy chuckled. “Well, Jacob’s gonna be real happy that it’s his birthday,” he said. He walked over to the table and pointed to the gift bags stacked in a huge pile. “And he’s gonna be real happy about these presents, too.”

I pretended to groan once again. “He’s getting so spoiled,” I said. “Part of me is tempted to just take half of these and give them at Christmas.”

“Oh, baby, before I forget, this is for you,” Billy said. He tapped a thick manila envelope on the table. “I was gonna have my paralegals draw this up, but I did it myself. Everything should be good to go – all you need to do is sign where I left the sticky notes.”

My heart swelled and tears came to my eyes. “And then you’ll be Jacob’s real father,” I murmured. “I can’t believe it.”

Billy grinned. “I can,” he said. “I thought it would make you happy, babe.”

“It definitely does,” I assured him. “Thank you so much for getting this together.”

Billy gave me a mock-salute, followed by a wink. “Anything for you,” he said.

I melted. Billy pulled me close and pressed his lips to mine. I moaned softly and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close.

“I love you,” Billy whispered.

“I love you, too,” I said. “I wish I could just drag you into bed.”

Billy smirked. “And what, forget about all of this?” He pointed around the kitchen. “Jacob would be mighty unhappy.”

I blushed and giggled. “I know,” I said. I smirked. “But there’s always later, right?”

Billy nodded. “Of course,” he said. He winked. “Like I’d miss any chance to get you in bed.”

Billy graciously offered to watch over all of the kids while I finished baking the cake. It didn’t turn out Pinterest-worthy, but it at least looked good enough to eat. I wasn’t used to spending so much time in the kitchen. Part of me wondered if that would change now that Billy was joining the family. He’d already told me that I wouldn’t need to work nearly as much – hell, he’d actually offered to support Jacob and me completely. But I didn’t feel comfortable with that, at least not right away. Right now, I wanted to focus on staying as independent as I could…at least, as independent as any woman could be with a fiancé as perfect as Billy.

By the time I was ready to serve the cake, I’d almost forgotten entirely about the adoption papers. I realized it wasn’t a good idea to leave them out – the house was full of energetic kids and their nosy parents. Billy and Elisabeth offered to take charge for a few minutes and I gratefully accepted.

I grabbed the folder and trotted down the hall. I knew that I should get back to the party as soon as possible, but I couldn’t help wanting to sneak a peek. I couldn’t believe that Billy was adopting Jacob. The only one happier than me was Jacob himself – he’d screamed from excitement when Billy and I had told him the good news.

Once I was safely in my room, I closed the door and walked into the closet. I kept a lock box here with copies of all the important paperwork – birth certificates, my passport, plus boxes of jewelry that I’d inherited from my grandmother. With satisfaction, I noted that the box was almost too full to close.

I licked my lips and opened the adoption paperwork. Everything seemed both vaguely familiar and too full of legal-speak for me to understand. Billy had helpfully marked every place that needed my signature with a yellow sticky note. My hand was itching to sign – I suddenly knew that it couldn’t wait, I had to make it official as soon as possible.

I grabbed a pen and started flipping through. Most of it was relatively self-explanatory. Lots of places for my name and Billy’s name. But something wasn’t right.

Billy’s name wasn’t listed as William Lessner, but rather as William Mikkelson.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I shoved the adoption papers out of the way and grabbed the lock box, digging through to the bottom. I tossed aside expired driver’s licenses, passports, and heirloom jewelry until I found what I was looking for: the paperwork from Peach State Cryobank.

The sperm bank where I’d gone when I went to get pregnant with Jacob.

My hands were shaking as I held the piece of paper close to my face. It was yellowed with age, but the print was unmistakable and crisp.

Donor: William Mikkelson, aged thirty-one years.

Tears came to my eyes and I buried my face in my hands. I’d been crying so much lately that I could have taken salt pills, but this was too much. Somehow, it made sense. Every time I’d watched Jacob and Billy together, I’d realized they shared so many mannerisms. It made perfect sense. Billy’s hair was a much darker blonde than Jacob’s platinum, but I knew from experience that blonde hair typically darkened with age. And Jacob’s bright blue eyes were a perfect match to Billy’s sapphire orbs.

If anything, I felt stupid for not realizing it before.

But why had Billy changed his last name? What dark secret was lurking in his past? And how would he react when I told him that I knew the truth – that Billy was Jacob’s real father?

I felt numb as I packaged up the papers and rejoined the party. Even the sight of Jacob racing around, squealing happily and playing with his brand new toy drone didn’t make me feel better. I couldn’t imagine the conversation that I knew I absolutely had to have after the party – how the hell was Billy going to take the news?

Maybe it’ll be fine, I thought as I watched the kids screaming and playing. I mean, he’s already adopting Jacob. So obviously he doesn’t mind having a kid. But how the hell is he going to react when he finds out that Jacob’s been his kid all along?

After the party, I shook hands and smiled with all of the other parents as they bundled their kids out the front door. I glanced around the messy kitchen, feeling an odd mixture of apprehension and relief.

Billy strode inside, carrying Jacob with one arm. The two of them were already closer than I ever could have imagined. Somehow, that just made me even more nervous. What if he leaves when I tell him the truth, I thought with a stab of anxiety. What’s Jacob going to do when his father leaves for good?

“Hey,” Billy said. He glanced up and narrowed his eyes. “Babe, you look terrible. Everything okay?”

I nodded. “Would you mind putting Jacob down for a nap?” I asked softly. “I’m going to start cleaning up.”

“Of course,” Billy said. He looked down at Jacob. “Whatddya say, big kid? Do four-year-olds still need to take naps?”

Jacob grinned. “No,” he said. Then he yawned and burst out laughing. Billy rolled his eyes and chuckled as he carried Jacob out of the room.

Once I was alone in the kitchen, I bustled around nervously. I put all of the dirty dishes in the sink, then unloaded the dishwasher and started wiping down the counters. The sun was starting to sink in the sky.

Billy walked into the kitchen, whistling, with his thumbs hooked in his belt loops. His blonde hair was longer than ever – he almost looked like some kind of urban cowboy. I blushed as he dipped into a low bow.

“So, babe, what’s goin’ on?” Billy drawled. “You seem real spooked about something.”

I nodded. “I…” I trailed off, biting my lip and feeling helpless. “I…”

“You….?” Billy chucked and shook his head. “Just spit it out,” he said. He winked. “You know I’m here for the long haul, babe. Besides, I haven’t even bought insurance for that ring yet, so you’d better not plan on takin’ it off any time soon.”

I blushed. Taking a deep breath, I stared into Billy’s eyes.

“Did you ever change your last name?”

Billy’s smile faded. He nodded slowly. “Yep,” he said. “I guess you looked at the paperwork?”

I nodded. “I did,” I said. “Why did you change your name?”

Billy sighed. “It’s stupid, really,” he said. He shook his head and laughed. “When I was about to take the bar, one of my mentors pulled me aside and said that Mikkelson didn’t sound like a real good name if I wanted to stay in Georgia. He said that people around here don’t really trust foreigners all that much, and that I should pick something more American.”

I blinked. “Wow,” I said softly. “That’s it?”

Billy nodded grimly. “I know, it sounds mighty stupid,” he said. “But I was young, and I was real worried about going into practice of my own. I didn’t want to risk losing clients just because of something as dumb as a last name. My old man was pretty pissed, but he understood why I did it.”

I nodded.

“Alex, babe, what’s goin’ on?” Billy took my hands in his. “What’s bothering you? I swear, it just didn’t seem like a big deal – I wasn’t tryin’ to keep anything from you, baby.”

I pulled a copy of the Peach State Cryobank paperwork from my back pocket and passed it silently to Billy.

“You’re Jacob’s real father,” I said after a few seconds. I sniffled as tears welled up in my eyes. “It’s always been you.”

Billy did a double take. He glanced down at the paperwork. A smile spread broadly across his face and he pulled me into his arms, kissing my face and holding so tightly that I could barely breathe.

“Holy shit,” Billy breathed in my ear. “I guess I am, huh?”

I nodded. “I hope that doesn’t scare you,” I babbled quickly. “It doesn’t change anything to me, I mean I’m fine with it if you are—“

“Alex, baby, this is the best thing you could have told me,” Billy said. “I love that little kid – knowing he’s mine just makes it all the better.”

I melted against his muscular chest. “Are you sure?” I looked deeply into Billy’s eyes.

“Babe, I’ve never been more sure about anything.” Billy kissed my forehead and a cool wave of relief rushed through my body.

“I love you,” I said softly.

“I love you,” Billy said. He smirked. “And you know what this means, babe?”

I shook my head. “What?”

“Jacob’s gonna be a real cute ring-bearer, don’t you think?”

I giggled and blushed. “You’re right,” I agreed. “I’m so happy.”

Billy squeezed me close. “I’ve never been happier,” he said. “I finally found my real family.”

A single tear rolled down my cheek and I nodded happily as love and satisfaction swelled in my chest. I’d finally gotten what I’d always wanted. I couldn’t believe that things had worked out so perfectly – it seemed too good to be true.

But that didn’t matter. Everything was perfect, and I’d finally learned to stop questioning myself.

“I love you,” I said. I leaned up to kiss Billy on the lips. “And I can’t wait to marry you and be a real family.”

Billy grinned. “Babe,” he said, tousling my hair and kissing me gently. “We already are.”

* * *